Silicon Graphics, based in Mountain View, Calif., said it will offer 10 Gigabit (Gb) Ethernet connectivity across its product offering of servers, workstations, advanced graphics systems and storage solutions. Initially, the company is offering the new PCI-X adapter option for customers who require the ability to transfer massive data sets between large systems, or as an ingest engine for huge I/O data streams. By increasing Ethernet bandwidth up to 10 times over today's standard interconnect speeds, SGI said it can enable customers to move and process data via Ethernet faster than ever before.

In media environments, where bandwidth-hungry film and HD video resolution content transfer and delivery are time-sensitive, 10Gb Ethernet interface capabilities enable facilities to move data quickly and accurately. For example, in telecine environments, film is scanned and digitized, and then stored as data. An entire feature film at 2K resolution could produce a data set of some eight to 10 terabytes during the editing, finishing and mastering process, so moving data of that magnitude quickly and efficiently is crucial to meet theatrical release deadlines. Ten Gb connectivity in SGI InfiniteStorage and the Tezro workstation offer a unique solution for the media industry.

For users of SGI servers, NAS storage and visualization systems, SGI will offer the Xframe 10 Gigabit Ethernet card from S2io, Inc. The 10Gb Ethernet adapter for SGI systems can be placed in a standard PCI-X slot for port aggregation, potentially replacing multiple Gb Ethernet ports with a single 10Gb Ethernet port. This will significantly increasing performance and lower the total cost of ownership, according to SGI.

The IEEE 802.3ae compliant card leverages existing data center infrastructure, requiring no changes to existing 50 micron cabling, operating systems or network administration tools. The driver for this 10Gb Ethernet technology has been optimized to balance superior throughput performance with the quality of service in error handling and other demands of mission-critical production deployments.

The 10Gb Ethernet adapter for SGI systems is available today for both 64-bit Linux and IRIX operating systems.